This invention relates to tufting machines and tufted fabrics and more particularly to a method and apparatus for forming a new fabric having tufted loops in the form of chain links disposed longitudinally in rows on the base fabric.
In the formation of tufted pile a plurality of laterally disposed yarn carrying needles are reciprocably driven through a base fabric longitudinally fed through the machine to form loops carried down below the fabric to be seized by loopers oscillating in timed relationship with the needles and which cross the needles just above the needle eye to seize the loop of yarn. In a loop pile machine the loopers point in the direction of feed of the base fabric and hold the seized loops while the needles are retracted from the base fabric, thereafter rocking away from the point of loop seizure to release the loops. When the needles start their next descent the loops have been released from the loopers and carried one stitch length away from the needle path. To form cut pile the loopers point in the direction opposite to the direction in which the fabric is being fed and cooperate with respective oscillating knives. Since the fabric and thus the loop is being fed toward the closed end of the looper the loop cannot be released and is not cut by the knife as the hook rocks away from the needle path, generally after about three loops have been so seized. The pile height of cut pile fabric depends solely upon the distance that the loopers are disposed below the backing fabric, while the pile height of loop pile depends upon the amount of yarn fed to the needle with the maximum being the distance from the loopers to the backing fabric.
The aesthetic appearance of a tufted fabric to a large extent depends upon what is known as the "cover" or "coverage" of the fabric. This is the amount of the yarn that appears on the base fabric, it being undesireable for the base fabric to be visable. Heretofor, the manner of obtaining greater cover has been to utilize more yarn, either by having higher pile heights or greater density, or both, the latter being determined by the lateral spacing or gauge between adjacent needles and loopers, and by the rate of fabric feed relative to the rate of needle reciprocation. Large utilization of yarn results from obtaining coverage in this manner. Since the largest single factor in the cost of producing tufted fabric is the amount, and thus the weight, of yarn in the fabric, the greater the coverage the higher the cost of the fabric. Consequently, it is highly desireable to have a high coverage product with a low face weight, i.e., small amount of yarn.
Tufted fabric is less expensive to produce than other known pile fabric producing methods and tufted fabric stylists are continually seeking attractive new patterning abilities and yarns for broadloom carpet, wall coverings, upholstery and drapery fabric. Thus, attempts have been made to produce various looks in a tufted fabric that are produced more expensively by for example, weaving and knitting. The knitted look and the crewel look are desireable for certain applications, particularly when the look can be obtained with the yarns of larger size or heavier deniers. No tufted fabric is presently known with these qualities nor with the unraveling characteristics of the product produced by those methods.